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Leeds backroom stalwart medal campaign
HE was the training ground sergeant major who helped mould the legendary Leeds United side of the Sixties and Seventies.
But Les Cocker's talent for getting the best out of the players at his disposal didn't just bear fruit at Elland Road.
The adopted Yorkshireman was also one of England boss Alf Ramsey's two main assistants during the victorious World Cup campaign of 1966.
Today's World Cup winners get 45 medals, with 23 going to the playing squad and the rest being given to the manager, his coaches and other backroom staff.
GIVE LES A MEDAL: Send your emails and petitions supporting the calls for Les to be given a medal by clicking here
There was to be no such prize for Les, however, after Bobby Moore lifted the Jules Rimet trophy on that sunny July day at Wembley more than 40 years ago.
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In the 10 World Cup tournaments staged before 1978, only players who appeared in the final itself received medals.
That rule meant 11 members of Ramsey's 1966 squad were left with little but memories to show for their involvement in the nation's finest footballing hour.
The so-called 'forgotten heroes' included stars such as Jimmy Greaves, John Connelly and Terry Paine, who all played in at least one game during England's run to the final.
Other big names, like Leeds United central defender Norman Hunter, found it impossible to break into the team – but as squad members still helped foster the sense of self-belief that swept the Three Lions to glory.
For years it seemed that Hunter and Ramsey's other reserves would never receive a just reward for their efforts.
Then, last November, Sepp Blatter, president of world soccer's governing body Fifa, moved to right that wrong.
He revealed that all non-playing members of World Cup-winning squads between 1930 and 1974 were to be given the medals they had previously been denied.
His gesture earned widespread praise - yet still did nothing to recognise people such as Les Cocker for the off-the-field contributions that are an essential element of any sporting success story.
Now, though, that might be about to change.
Many fans were until recently unaware that Ramsey and his right-hand men – Les and Middlesbrough trainer Harold Shepherdson – had been overlooked in 1966.
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Thanks to the publicity generated by November's announcement, growing numbers of supporters have been mobilising online and demanding action from Fifa.
Sheffield Central MP and former sports minister Richard Caborn has also asked Blatter to authorise the posthumous issuing of medals to the '66 trio.
GIVE LES A MEDAL: Send your emails and petitions supporting the calls for Les to be given a medal by clicking here
The Football Association, too, has made representations to Fifa – pleas which were thought to have fallen on deaf ears.
But Fifa spokesman Pekka Odriozola has now confirmed it is looking into the possibility of retrospectively awarding medals to non-footballing staff like Les.
He said the governing body was "in the process of examining all the past documentation to determine who is entitled to receive the medals".
Those comments were welcomed today by Les's son, David.
The 56-year-old retired brewery manager, of New Farnley, Leeds, said: "For my dad to be recognised would be just fantastic – it would mean an awful lot."
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LEEDS United legends today backed the campaign for Les Cocker and other unsung World Cup heroes to receive long-overdue medals.
Many of those rallying to the cause were members of the all-conquering Leeds team managed by Don Revie and trained by Les.
Johnny Giles, who played more than 500 games for United between 1963 and 1975, said: "He should have got a medal in 1966.
"Forty odd years later, it's time to put that right.
"Les was good at his job, very conscientious, a real disciplinarian. He made a big contribution to Leeds United's success and, I'm sure, to England's as well."
GIVE LES A MEDAL: Send your emails and petitions supporting the calls for Les to be given a medal by clicking here
Eddie Gray, who clocked up nearly 600 appearances for Leeds between 1965 and 1984 and has twice served as the club's manager, said: "It would be lovely for his family.
"Les certainly deserved a medal – he worked as hard as anybody to win the World Cup for England."
Peter Lorimer, who played over 700 times for Leeds, said: "Alf (Ramsey] might have picked the team, but Les played a big part in getting the players fit and keeping them fit.
"I know he was very proud of his achievement with England and it would be nice for his grandkids and great grandkids if they had something to show for it."
And Jimmy Armfield, who spent four years as United manager during the 1970s, was one of the 11 England reserves left empty-handed in 1966.
He said: "Today everyone down to the kit man seems to get a medal when a side wins something.
"You half expect someone to come running out of the stands to pick one up!
"Les's input was significant and I have always said the support group should be regarded as part of the team."
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BORN in Cheshire in 1924, Les Cocker's formative footballing years came as a player with Stockport County and Accrington Stanley.
But the no-nonsense attitude he would later bring to training with Leeds United and England was, in part, forged far from the muddy pitches of English soccer – during wartime service with the Reconnaissance Regiment in France.
GIVE LES A MEDAL: Send your emails and petitions supporting the calls for Les to be given a medal by clicking here
His recruitment to the Leeds backroom cause came in 1960, when he arrived at Elland Road as one of the first holders of the new FA Coaching Certificate.
Shortly afterwards Don Revie was installed as manager and began to fashion a side which would become feared across Europe.
The likes of Terry Cooper, Paul Reaney and Allan Clarke were, of course, supremely skilled.
Yet they gained an added edge over many of their opponents thanks to Les's unrelenting training sessions.
Fanatical about physical fitness, he would put his charges through the most exacting of drills before soothing away their aches and pained muscles on the treatment table.
Jack Charlton, defensive lynchpin of the Revie team, once described Les as "the type of coach who would never ask a player to do something he couldn't do himself".
Big Jack said: "He insisted on leading the training runs, he was always in the forefront of the activity. There were times I'd blow my top with him and say 'Look Les – we are the ones striving for fitness, not you. Concentrate on us and take it easy'. But he would not.
"Anything we were asked to do he would do it first and just as hard.
"Les was a boss. We respected his position and his coaching methods. He worked us hard and he made us successful."
Les was drafted into the England set-up in 1962 by then manager Walter Winterbottom. He stayed on when Alf Ramsey assumed control the following year and had a dual role with Leeds and England until 1974.
Les then left Leeds to become full-time assistant to Revie after his old pal began his ill-fated reign as England boss.
Three years later the pair were on the move again, taking charge of the United Arab Emirates national side. The sunshine life did not suit Les, though, and he returned to Britain after two years.
His final position in football was with Leeds icon Billy Bremner, by now managing Doncaster Rovers. It was during a training session at Doncaster's Belle Vue ground that Les collapsed and died in October 1979, at the age of just 55.
He left three sons, David, Stephen and Ian, and a widow, Nora, who today is aged 82 and still lives in Leeds.
GIVE LES A MEDAL: Send your emails and petitions supporting the calls for Les to be given a medal by clicking here
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